Sharing the Burden
by Dorien Cousland
Summary: Violet breaks down in Hotel Denouement while thinking of all the misfortune that constantly plagues her, and a certain someone comes to help her through it. One-shot.


'I just can't keep _doing_ this anymore.'

Violet was quietly sobbing in the corner of one of the less visited hallways of Hotel Denouement. She had finished her latest duty as a concierge in a room down the hall, and had come to this deserted part of the building afterwards. Violet had been crying for a while, and her face was red and swollen.

She looked up after a moment and saw a man who could have been Frank or possibly Earnest watching her. She leaned against the wall and tried to compose herself. He approached her slowly and cautiously and stood with a sad look on his face.

"You don't have to stop just because I'm here, you know," He said quietly, and Violet sniffed and glared at him. She did not like crying in front of people, especially strangers that may or may not be on the right side of the schism.

"Why are you here?" She said in between sobs.

"Because… well, crying is sometimes made slightly less unpleasant when someone is with you." He said after a while. Violet moved to sit on the floor and after a few seconds he did the same. They sat quietly for a little bit, and she could feel the anonymous man watching her as she continued to cry.

Eventually Violet calmed down, and he reached over and patted her hand. Violet started slightly at this gesture of kindness and looked up at him.

"You don't have to do this."

"I know."

They sat for a while longer. Violet had her eyes closed and was breathing in and out slowly. After a while, either Frank or Earnest turned toward her sighed.

"I realize… I can't say that I've been in your position or that I understand what you're going through because I haven't and I can't. And I won't ask what is wrong, because there are a great many things in this world that are wrong and all are very worth crying over. But I just want you to know that if you happen to feel like discussing all these terrible things, I would be glad to do so."

And so Violet sighed, and decided she did want to discuss the terrible things that had happened to her. So she told him everything, from the very beginning of her misfortune up until this moment. She cried at parts, and didn't want to remember others, but it felt good to at least get it off of her chest. Violet talked and talked, for it was a very long story, but the mysterious man sat quietly and listened to the whole thing.

"And it's just that even with all this misfortune… my siblings and I never get a chance to rest or recuperate. We just move from one terrible event to another, and it keeps getting worse and worse. Will we ever have a break from it?" Violet started crying again, and Earnest or perhaps Frank kept listening with a heartbroken look on his face.

"It was not even a year ago that this all started, and yet it feels like I've lived an entire lifetime of misery. I want it to stop, for a little bit at least, so I can have a chance to gather my composure and find the strength keep going… but it never seems to end." She put her head in her hands now, and her shoulders shook slightly from the sobs. Violet felt the man put his hand on her arm and she leaned towards him slightly. After a while she sat up and turned to look at him.

"I just want to have a few moments in my life that aren't filled with misery," she said intensely. "I just want to not constantly have to run from the misfortune that plagues me. I want my siblings and I to be safe, and I want to see our friends again, and I want to know the answers to all the questions and mysteries that surround us!" Her eyes filled with tears once more while she frowned slightly.

"And I want my parents back," She whispered, and slumped into the man's arms. Violet cried onto his shoulder as he sat and patted her back every so often. He put his arm around her and gave her a small half hug.

"You have certainly had a treacherous life," he said softly, "I know it is hard to find reasons to continue in a world that keeps putting us through misfortune after misfortune. It is also hard to wish for anything when we might never get it, no matter how reasonable the wish may be. But sometimes sharing the stories of all we have been through helps the other person to share the burden, if you will. And sometimes having little moments like this away from all the treachery helps as well. Or at least, it gives us time to prepare to go back out into it." He looked as if he was thinking of his own misfortune, and all the terrible things he had lived through himself.

Violet sniffed and sat up. "Thank you," she said shakily. "Thank you for sharing this burden with me."

The man smiled sadly and stood, put his hand down and helped Violet up. She was glad that in all this wretchedness, there were good people to share the burden of it with her. And looking at the man that had done so much for her, she was sure he was most certainly Frank and not Earnest.

"I'm happy that there are still noble people in this world, Frank," She said and smiled, pleased that she understood who he was.

But he just stared at her with an odd look, and immediately said, "I'm not Frank," as if he had been instinct to do so. Shocked, Violet took a step back and angrily glared at him. Even in this small moment when Violet thought that she had found a noble companion, it turned out to just be another deceitful and terrible event in her misfortunate life.

"Well then," she said, her face glowering, her voice full of hate and anger, "Thank you for showing me that I never will escape this wretchedness that plagues me. Goodbye, Earnest." And she turned to run, sobs once again threatening to take over her body.

"No, wait Violet! I didn't mean it like that, you don't understand! I'm…." But as Violet ran, the sound of her crying drowned out the man's last words as he yelled "Dewey Denouement" after her disappearing figure.


End file.
